


The Future Queen Among Roses and Thorns

by miyukijane



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 19:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10905720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miyukijane/pseuds/miyukijane
Summary: Anora and Nathaniel did know each other once, long ago...





	The Future Queen Among Roses and Thorns

He found her in the garden. This was his chance. He had reached the age of his majority. His father could bluster all he wanted, but he couldn’t stop Nate from doing what he wanted to do.  


And besides, Nate thought savagely, he could seek his own fortune outside the family.  


She sat on a bench by the late summer roses, characteristically bent over a book. Her perfect brow creased a little in concentration. Nate paused to admire her. She’d caught his eye and his heart from the very first moment he’d seen her, all those years ago, when they were still children. Not that Anora had ever acted like a child. She was two years younger than he, but had always seemed like a fully-formed adult.  


She looked up and smiled as he approached. “You found my hiding place,” she said.  


“Were you hiding from me, my lady?”  


“Never from you, Nate,” she said, and took his hand. “I missed your birthday.”  


He kissed her cool fingers. “Did you get me a gift?”  


“I did, as a matter of fact, only now I don’t think I should give it to you. You’re getting quite spoiled.”  


“I don’t need it, anyway,” he said. “That I get to see you is gift enough.”  


She shook her head at him playfully. “Flatterer. Stop being so sentimental. I happen to be very good at picking out presents. You’ll like it.” She handed him a small parcel wrapped in plain paper.  


He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “This is kind of you, Anora.”  


“Well, open it.”  


A plain gold ring lay in a velvet-lined box. Nate smiled at her. “Is this a proposal of some sort?”  


“Stop being foolish.” Was it his imagination, or did a flush touch her cheeks? Anora never blushed. “I bought it at the Wonders of Thedas, in Denerim. The mage who sold it to me claimed it would help protect you.”  


“Concerned for my safety, are you?”  


She shrugged. “I wouldn’t want my future vassal to be wounded.”  


“When you become queen, you mean.”  


“Yes.” She glanced at him. “When I marry Cailin.”  


He put the ring on his finger. It fit perfectly. He knelt and took both of her hands in his. “Anora. I know you don’t love Cailin. He’s a buffoon. He’s not good enough for you.”  


“Not good enough for me, as a royal prince? Your standards are higher even than mine.” She spoke in the same teasing tone, but her fingers trembled in his.  


He pressed them lightly. “He’s not good enough for you, because he doesn’t love you. Not the way I do.”  


She withdrew her fingers swiftly. “You shouldn’t say such things.”  


“Why not? It’s true. And I know you love me, too. I dare you to look in my eyes and tell me I’m wrong.”  


She met his gaze fearlessly, her eyes clear as crystal pools. “My father made an arrangement for me long ago. I will marry the future king of Ferelden.”  


“Your father can’t tell you what to do.” He clasped his right hand over his heart and bowed his head. He could feel a tremor rippling through his limbs. “Marry me, Anora.”  


She shook her head, but she did not speak.  


Well, he'd known it wouldn't be easy. She would take some convincing to go against her father's wishes, and he was ready. “Don't we control our own fates?” This was one of the things he loved best about her. She refused to be anyone’s but her own. “You could convince your father to let him out of the arrangement, I’m sure you could. You could persuade a snake to part with its tongue.” He smiled. "I can give you a good life. Your father knows that."  


She turned away from him. “It doesn't matter.”  


“What do you mean?”  


She glared back at him, angry now. Her voice betrayed her frustration. “Why should I seek another husband? All you can offer me is an Arling. Cailin can give me Ferelden.”  


Nate clenched his fists. “Is that all that matters to you? Sitting in some grand palace, set up as a queen, draped in silk and fur? I know you better than to believe that.”  


Her eyes blazed. “Do you think I care for my own comfort? I have been in training to rule since I was born. You don’t understand. You never wanted it, and you don’t care about it. Power. You were born to it, it means nothing to you. But for my father, who had to fight his way to his rank -- I am his legacy. His heir. It’s my destiny and my duty.”  


He took a step back, intimidated by her fury, but he couldn’t stop now. Years of emotion came pouring out of him. “I refuse to be trapped by ‘destiny.’ The Anora I know would never let destiny or anything else direct her life. She takes what she wants and lives the life she makes for herself. You can't be happy with Cailin, or with the life your father's planned for you!”  


“Then let me put it this way. It’s a destiny that I have had a hand in shaping as much as my father has. Do I love Cailin? The question is meaningless. What I know, what I have always known, is this: that I will rule, well and wisely, and protect Ferelden, and build her into the greatest nation in all of Thedas. I know I can do this. I have the talent and the training. It is all I’ve worked for. Just because I am a woman does not mean I haven’t ambition and vision equal to any man’s.”  


“Do you love me?”  


She faltered for the first time then. “That is irrelevant.” She blinked, but she raised her chin and looked straight on, daring him to contradict her.  


“I understand,” he said. Because he’d seen that flash of fear that she’d tried to mask with anger. He knew her too well not to see it, her fatal flaw. His jaw was tight with pain but he kept his voice soft. “You’re afraid to choose a life with me. You’re afraid you might actually love someone more than yourself. You’re afraid to trust that someone could love you so much. I can, Anora. I love you for who you are.”  


The shocked spark in her eyes told him that he’d hit close to home. But it wasn’t in her to back down. Her tone was like the frost on Lake Calenhad in the dead of winter. “And you’re afraid to see the world for what it really is. Not a romantic fairy tale, Nathaniel. There can be no happy endings for people like us. That is a luxury we cannot indulge in.”  


She turned away, and he let her. He watched her walk back through the garden and into the palace. She did not glance back.  


The next day, he agreed to his father’s proposal to depart for the Free Marches.  


He would not return to Ferelden, he told himself, ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I love thinking about the sacrifices Anora must have made to become queen, and I've also often wondered what made Nate so broody.. so this story imagines a history for them that had a significant impact on their characters.
> 
> Feedback is always welcome!


End file.
